The top 10 domestic film directors with the highest box office in China: Zhang Yimou is only 4th, and Chen Sicheng is 2nd

While igniting the enthusiasm for watching movies during the Spring Festival, the theater chain is also destined to usher in a new round of directors' aerial showdown.

In this schedule, three generations of old, middle-aged and young people in the domestic director circle have come.

There are not only the grandmaster-level director Zhang Yimou who is over the age of old, but also the figure of young directors such as Jia Ling and Han Han, and Ning Hao, the Mesozoic director who has been in the industry for many years, also went to the theater with his new work.

Focusing on the key indicator of box office, they are bound to usher in a head-to-head competition.

In the context of the vigorous development of domestic theaters, who can fight their way out of the melee?

Bluestone can't say for sure, only the market at that time can give us the answer.

The box office winner of this schedule is currently inconclusive, but what about the entire domestic film history?

Judging from the historical box office data, what is the performance of the box office data of the three generations of the old, middle and young people in this box office melee?

Below, Qingshi will follow this topic to talk to you about the big one, and see who are the top ten directors in the cumulative box office of domestic film history.

10, Bunmakino

Individual director box office: 7.702 billion

High-box office masterpieces: I Am Not the God of Medicine (3.1 billion), Miracle Stupid Child (1.379 billion)

The 10th place in the total box office list of domestic directors and the youngest director on the list - post-85 director Wen Muye.

Although there are not many works, Wen Muye, who holds a hit, still entered the list with a total box office data of 7.702 billion.

In July 2018, "I Am Not the God of Medicine", which was written and directed by him, was born in the summer file, and countless people cried.

Although this is only his first work directed alone, the film's smooth narrative and delicate expression make people feel no traces of a novice.

The delicate portrayal of the life at the bottom and the sense of social responsibility reflected behind the work deeply touched the audience.

Through the main line of drug dealer Cheng Yong's smuggling of sky-high drugs, Wen Muye extended a picture of patients and sentient beings in a seemingly relaxed tone, and then revealed the core of "difficult and expensive to see a doctor" at the bottom of society.

In the film, the helplessness and humility of patients in the face of "high-priced drugs" are extremely realistic.

The appearance of this "God of Medicine" also resonated with netizens across the country, and won a high box office of 3.1 billion in one fell swoop.

This work with laughter, tears and more thinking also made Wen Muye famous in one fell swoop.

After filming "God of Medicine", director Wen Muye who chose to precipitate himself did not have many works, and only participated in the filming of 2 works.

But judging from the performance of the theaters, the box office data of these two works are very good.

Whether it is the 1.3 billion box office received by the inspirational film "Miracle Stupid Child", or the addition of more than 3 billion data to the gift blockbuster "My Motherland and Me", the box office data of director Wen Muye has jumped up.

Among them, the "Miracle Stupid Child" in last year's Spring Festival file is regarded by many people as another copy of "The God of Medicine".

This film, which portrays the story of the struggle of poor youth, also tells the story of the little people at the bottom who strive to change the status quo of life, which makes people feel the warmth from the bottom.

9、

Wu Jing

Individual director box office - 7.72 billion

High box office masterpiece - Wolf Warrior 2 (5.68 billion)

Similar to Wen Muye, the following director also became popular with a blockbuster, and his data "explosion" even far exceeds Wen Muye.

This director is Wu Jing, who created a box office miracle in the mainland with "Wolf Warrior 2".

In 2017, "Wolf Warrior 2", directed and acted by him, swept the summer file, and broke the domestic film record at that time with an extremely exaggerated box office of 5.68 billion.

You must know that at that time, "Wolf Warrior 2" was only Wu Jing's third work after transforming into a director.

He can be regarded as a newcomer in the director circle, and this wolf warrior fire is indeed burning enough.

The success of "Wolf Warrior 2" is largely due to Wu Jing's grasp of the main theme film and the marketization context.

Under the framework of the main theme of overseas evacuation, Wu Jing added a lot of plot elements to entertain the public.

Whether it is a gripping action scene or a light-hearted and humorous dialogue between the characters, it meets the audience's viewing needs and greatly improves the watchability of the film.

The portrayal of Leng Feng, the male protagonist of special forces, is also eye-catching with his very personal heroism painting style, and "Wolf Warrior" has also become a new label for Chinese heroes.

Under the entertainment tone, Wu Jing's portrayal of the main theme elements is also very good.

Through the heroic deeds of the male protagonist Leng Feng, "Wolf Warrior 2" brilliantly shaped the wolf warrior spirit shown by the mainland to protect overseas Chinese.

And the main creator Wu Jing's sentence "Chinese passport can bring you back from anywhere in the world" has ignited the national pride of countless people.

I have to say that Wu Jing understands the market very well and understands the main theme.

In 2017, this highly interesting main theme action film "Wolf Warrior 2" finally made Wu Jing step into the ranks of high-grossing directors and become a new figure in the film industry.

However, although it has gained popularity because of "Wolf Warrior 2", Wu Jing has also been accompanied by certain doubts.

While the outside world affirms the achievements of "Wolf Warrior 2", in recent years, some voices think that Wu Jing's image of an iron-blooded tough guy is too single and too bound to the main theme.

In addition to "Wolf Warrior 2", there are not many directors from director Wu Jing.

Whether he can get rid of the inherent label of "wolf warrior" is also the key to whether Wu Jing's directorial career can go further.

8, Guan Hu

Individual director box office: 8.659 billion

High-grossing works: Eight Hundred (3.11 billion), King Kong River (1.127 billion)

In the domestic film and television industry, the market volume of war-themed films has always been large.

In the three years from 2020 to 2022, the annual box office champion of domestic theaters has been occupied by war blockbusters for three consecutive years.

And in the box office list of domestic directors, war film directors are obviously indispensable.

For example, Guan Hu, who has won a total of more than 8.6 billion box office in his directorial career, is extremely good at this theme.

Not only did more than half of his career as a director come from war movies, but the 2020 domestic box office champion "Eight Hundred" came from him.

Looking back at Guan Hu's works, there are two styles that are very different from each other.

In the early days, he often presented the theme of war from a small point of view.

The main story line of his works often focuses on the small people of a certain era during the Anti-Japanese War, and talks about the Anti-Japanese War in a black humorous way.

There are not only "The Cook's Drama and Ruffian", which is a curious painting style and a red agent disguised as the plot, but also the black comedy "Bullfight", which uses a cow to refract the appearance of all beings in the War of Resistance.

And under the seemingly absurd and humorous tone, the anti-war ideas reflected behind it are also thought-provoking.

In recent years, Guan Hu has turned to a more panoramic presentation of the theme of war.

In 2020, he will successively launch two war-themed films "Eight Hundred" and "King Kong River".

In the context of the main theme of the east wind, these two war films that mainly present battle scenes are more suitable for more than 4 billion box office.

Among them, "Eight Hundred", which is based on "Eight Hundred Heroes Guarding the Four Elements Warehouse", is definitely a typical condensation of the two styles of Guanhu war films.

In the film, the group portraits of the 800 heroes led by Xie Jinyuan are portrayed in combination with the historical prototype, which makes people feel the touching deeds of the prototype.

At the same time, Guan Hu, who has always been good at "seeing the big from the small", has also carried forward his own advantages.

While depicting the deeds of the eight hundred heroes, he also aimed some of his shots at the people on the other side of the river, showing his anti-Japanese feelings in another way.

There are not only the "hooligans" of the Green Gang who went to death to deliver telephone lines for the strong men, but also the Shanghai professors who shot across the river, and various unnamed characters warned the strong men.

The relay of the people at the bottom to resist Japan has also gradually strengthened the enthusiastic atmosphere of the whole work.

not only depicts the 800 heroes in a large pattern, but also depicts the patriotic feelings of the people in detail, and the outstanding texture of "Eight Hundred" finally received a box office of 3.1 billion, which is indeed very reasonable.

In the field of war films, director Guan Hu's performance is indeed very stable.

7, Guo Fan

Personal director data: 10.31 billion

High-grossing works: The Wandering Earth (4.687 billion), The Wandering Earth 2 (4.029 billion)

The director's box office list went up, and the total box office data began to jump to tens of billions.

Up to now, there are 7 directors in the domestic director circle with a total box office of more than 10 billion.

Guo Fan, an 80-year-old young director, is the youngest of the 10 billion directors.

And the key to making Guo Fan's box office data so strong is undoubtedly thanks to the four loud words:

Wandering Earth

Since landing on the Spring Festival in 2019, the movie "The Wandering Earth" directed by Guo Fan has broken into the audience's field of vision as a dark horse.

Whether it is the sci-fi imagination presented in the whole movie or the concrete sci-fi special effects scenes, the performance of Guo Fan's team is eye-catching.

All kinds of brilliant special effects also make the domestic science fiction that has been criticized before get a rare applause.

Despite the limited funds and even the starring Wu Jingjing is "free to act", Guo Fan's team basically invests all the funds in special effects, and the whole sci-fi vision is quite outstanding.

Under the word-of-mouth of the audience, "The Wandering Earth 1" also counterattacked all the way in 2019 and became a hit on the schedule, and won a box office of over 4.6 billion in one fell swoop.

If "The Wandering Earth 1" brought Guo Fan into the audience's field of vision, last year's "The Wandering Earth 2" made Guo Fan enter the ranks of domestic blockbuster directors, and is regarded as the hope of carrying the banner of domestic science fiction.

In "The Wandering Earth 2" launched last year, Guo Fan has made significant progress compared with his predecessor.

In the case of increased funding, the special effects scenes of the film have been further upgraded, and some magnificent spaceship special effects make people feel that they are not inferior to the top level in Europe and the United States.

Compared with the first work, Guo Fan injected a lot of humanistic feelings into the sequel, which further enhanced the pattern vision of the work.

Through the background of the story of the earth crisis, Little Wrecking Ball 2 has created a grand "heroic epic", in which elites make sacrifices for the safety of all mankind, and the core of warmth is touching.

At the same time, with the help of the scientist Tu Hengyu played by Andy Lau, Guo Fan also thoughtfully introduced the dialectical thinking of AI intelligence and human society.

The appearance of the intelligent computer MOSS in the second part is definitely a highlight of the work.

In addition to special effects, the second part also upgraded the idea, and the box office of "The Wandering Earth 2" of over 4 billion once again reflects the market's affirmation of Guo Fan.

Although Guo Fan's directorial works are not many, it often takes 2-3 years to "hide" before one is released.

But Guo Fan's operation of throwing off a hit every once in a while also shows one thing: there are not many works, just fine.

6、

Xu Zheng

Personal box office data: 10.359 billion

High-box office masterpieces: "Thai Embarrassment" 1.27 billion, "Hong Kong Embarrassment" 1.611 billion

After talking about the box office of domestic sci-fi, it's time to talk about the box office vanguard of domestic comedy.

Judging from the data, Xu Zheng, who won 10.359 billion individual director box office, can be regarded as the highest-grossing comedy director.

When it comes to Xu Zheng, the road comedy "Embarrassment Series" is definitely an unavoidable topic.

Since starring in "People in Embarrassment" in 2010 and receiving praise, Xu Zheng, who has been inspired by it, has launched a new series of comedies as a director.

In the following years, Xu Zheng traveled to Thailand, Hong Kong, Russia and other places to shoot, and filmed three road comedies with the word "embarrassment" as the label of the film.

Although the plot lines of these three works are not related, there are similarities in their internal structure.

The main line of the plot is often unfolded through the protagonist's various jokes and experiences in a foreign land.

Following the protagonist's perspective to "play" around the world, the audience is also appreciating the customs of various parts of the world, while producing a comedic effect.

Among the three embarrassment series, the most successful representative is undoubtedly the first work in the series, "Thai Embarrassment".

This work, starring Huang Bo, Wang Baoqiang, and Xu Zheng, and featuring "Thai style", received praise for its abundant laughter baggage, and swept the theater chain in one fell swoop, and became the first film in domestic film history to break 1 billion at the box office with a box office of 1.27 billion.

And although the reputation of the follow-up two works is obviously not as good as "Thai Embarrassment", the popularity data is still good.

The second work in the series, "Hong Kong Embarrassment", won a box office of over 1.6 billion, and "Embarrassment", which chose to be launched on the online platform, reached 600 million views in just 3 days after it was launched.

In recent years, when the box office of the theater chain has exploded, in the context of the decline in the popularity of the embarrassment series, Xu Zheng has a new development direction.

In the main theme trilogy "Me and My XX" series, which focuses on the all-star team, Xu Zheng became the only director to direct all three series of films.

Although it is a "platter team", Xu Zheng's directing of the fragments of these three works is remarkable.

In "My Hometown and Me", through the last lesson of the "relaxed and witty" old teacher played by Fan Wei when he returned to the old school, Xu Zheng portrayed the hard work and dedication of typical older generation teachers.

In "My Motherland and Me", the scene of Shanghai alley residents watching the women's volleyball team win the championship in the 80s also reflects patriotic feelings in a witty atmosphere.

In "Me and My Fathers", Xu Zheng focuses on the behind-the-scenes of the birth of China's first TV commercial, and portrays the entrepreneurial efforts of a generation in a comedic style.

It seems to be a noisy comedy style, but it also reflects the warm core that responds to the theme of the film.

Obviously, when talking about comedy in theaters, Xu Zheng is quite good.

5、

Chen Kaige

Personal box office data - 11.401 billion

High-grossing works: Changjin Lake (5.775 billion), Volunteer Army (867 million)

In the box office list of domestic directors, it is the turn of the older generation of directors.

Chen Kaige, a representative of the fifth generation of directors (note: refers to a group of directors who graduated from Beijing Film Academy in the 80s), ranked fifth on the list with a box office of 11.4 billion.

From the perspective of works, Chen Kaige, who played masterpieces such as "Farewell My Concubine" in the early part of his career, is regarded as the top director in the industry.

But I have to say that only from the perspective of the theater chain, Chen Kaige, who is good at delicate literary and artistic expression, has "suffered" in the more public-oriented theater.

And this is also intuitively reflected in the box office data and reviews of the film.

At the beginning of the new century, films such as Chen Kaige's "Wuji" and "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" led to polarization of word-of-mouth due to obscure expressions, and the market box office was not ideal.

In recent years, when the data of the theater market has exploded, the box office response of Chen Kaige's works is still tepid.

"The Legend of the Demon Cat", which focuses on the afterglow of the Tang Dynasty, is extremely oriental aesthetics in the painting style, and "Taoist Priest Descending the Mountain", which focuses on Taoist Zen, also has a philosophical core.

However, the "high threshold" of the two works in the plot expression also caused the box office of the works to be ignored by the public, and the two films did not rank in the top 30 in theaters in their respective release years.

In recent years, the work that really integrated Chen Kaige's "literary and artistic expression" with the market was the movie "Changjin Lake".

Although Chen Kaige co-produced the film with directors Lin Chaoxian and Tsui Hark, compared with Lin Xu, who is also good at action scenes, Chen Kaige, who is better at literature and drama, injects a more personal color into "Changjin Lake".

In "Changjin Lake", which mainly paves the character line, Chen Kaige added a lot of poetic design to this history of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea.

The most typical scene is the picture of the Seventh Company rushing to the front line and the train running to see the great rivers and mountains of the motherland.

The soldiers in the fight were attracted by the beautiful scenery of the motherland outside the car, and the feelings of family and country revealed in their eyes were indeed touching.

Obviously, Chen Kaige's literary and artistic expression is still very stamina.

4, Zhang Yimou

Personal director data: 11.71 billion

High-grossing works: Man Jianghong (4.544 billion), Solid as a Rock (1.351 billion), Above the Cliff (1.191 billion)

In addition to Chen Kaige, there is another representative of the fifth generation of directors on the list - the famous director Zhang Yimou.

As a "national team player" in the film industry, Zhang Yimou has released a total of 27 movies in his career so far, and has won a total of 11.71 billion box office.

There is no need to say much about Zhang Yimou's directorial performance.

The early blockbusters such as "Alive", "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit", and "Hero" at the beginning of the century all showed his grandmaster-level strength in the industry.

In recent years, although he has been over the age of the box office data blowout, the grandmaster Zhang Yimou is still enthusiastic about filming.

Since 2020, Zhang Yimou has released 6 film works in the past 4 years.

What's even more gratifying is that in these works, Director Zhang has been working hard to challenge himself.

"On the Cliff" in May 1st in 2021 is Director Zhang's first attempt at the spy war theme in his career.

This work starring Zhang Yi, Qin Hailu, and Yu Hewei is excellent in terms of actors' acting skills and directing skills, and the film with a good reputation finally won 1.1 billion box office.

In "Sniper" half a year later, Zhang Yimou aimed the theme at snipers, and through the restoration of the "coldest shot" of unpopular arms in the process of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, the work is also reverse.

In 2023, Director Zhang will also release two new works in a row.

"Man Jianghong", which focuses on the painting style of "script killing", and "Solid as a Rock", which focuses on "anti-corruption and clean government", both swiped the screen strongly in their respective schedules, and Bing won 4.5 billion and 1.3 billion box office respectively.

Under the accumulation of box office one by one, Director Zhang also sat firmly in the position of a 10 billion director.

It is worth mentioning that this year's Spring Festival stalls still have the figure of "model worker" Director Zhang.

The movie "Article 20" directed by him is scheduled for the Spring Festival, and the quality of the work is also good.

Perhaps, after this Spring Festival, Director Zhang's position in the box office list of domestic directors will continue to move forward.

3, Lin Chaoxian

Personal box office data: 11.868 billion

High-grossing works: Changjin Lake (5.775 billion), Red Sea Operation (3.652 billion), Mekong River Operation (1.186 billion)

The box office list continues to rise, and he is a Hong Kong, China director who has developed north.

Director Lin Chaoxian, who is good at Hong Kong-style police and gangster films, has a strong presence in the theater market in recent years.

He has always focused on "hardcore action scenes", and he has also brought his own characteristics into his works in recent years.

It can be said that every work of Director Lin in recent years can be labeled as an action film.

In order to create the most enjoyable viewing experience, Lin Chaoxian often pursues the most extreme action scenes in his works.

In "Operation Red Sea", he pursues real guns and real weapons into battle, and various long-range snipers and hand-to-hand combat alternate, which makes people especially enjoyable to watch.

And Lin Chaoxian, who has always played hardcore, does not exclude deepening the audience's impression with visually impactful pictures.

The picture of half of the soldier's face being destroyed by the stone in "Operation Red Sea" brings a strong sensory impact to the audience.

In the recent new film "Breaking Point", the bloody shootout in the cave of the male protagonist William Chan also has a strong aesthetic sense of violence.

This kind of explosive painting style also made Lin Chaoxian set off a wave of action movies in mainland theaters.

It is worth mentioning that Lin Chaoxian also joined the filming of the hit blockbuster "Changjin Lake", mixing the ultimate action scenes into the work.

The high box office of "Changjin Lake", which was co-produced in cooperation, also objectively helped Lin Chaoxian soar to third place in the box office list of domestic directors.

2, Chen Sicheng

Personal box office data: 12.205 billion

High-grossing works: Tang Detective Trilogy (8.743 billion in total)

This is one of the most controversial directors in the director's box office list.

Chen Sicheng, the director who single-handedly created the popular Tang Detective series in theaters, is a unique existence that is "praised and sprayed from time to time".

On the one hand, Chen Sicheng's director's box office results are really dazzling.

Since 2015, he has launched a series of movies called "Detective Chinatown" every 3 years, and the box office has gradually surged steadily, and the three works have exceeded 8.7 billion exaggerated box office so far.

But on the other hand, the controversy of melting stalks and even being questioned about "plagiarism" in the work also made Chen Sicheng's reputation plummet.

The Tang Detective series, which made Chen Sicheng famous, has been accused by many reasoning fans of splicing elements of many reasoning masterpieces.

For example, the modus operandi of "Five Elements Murder" in the second part of Tang Detective is very similar to the setting of Leung Ka-fai's movie "Double Eyes".

The popularity is accompanied by controversy, and it has also become a footnote to Chen Sicheng's directorial career.

But in Qingshi's view, although there are many criticisms, it must be admitted that Chen Sicheng is definitely an excellent commercial film director.

I have to say that Chen Sicheng has a strong ambition to "expand the universe" for his works.

After the first part of the Chinatown detective became an instant hit, Chen Sicheng chose to extend a murder case that originally happened in Thailand and expand a crime series that connects multiple cities.

At the same time, he creatively introduced the concept of the evil organization Q, and constantly buried clues about the Q organization in his works, which stimulated the desire of netizens to reason to a certain extent.

In addition to the main reasoning story, Chen Sicheng is also very shrewd to stuff in various entertainment gimmicks that can please the audience,

Including but not limited to letting the leading actor Wang Baoqiang and others dress up as men, and the various scene-stealing accents of the supporting characters have greatly improved the entertainment of the movie.

Chen Sicheng may have a controversial reputation for his works, but he is really good at "selling tickets".

01, Tsui Hark

Personal box office data: 14.609 billion

High-grossing works: Changjin Lake (5.775 billion), Watergate Bridge (4.067 billion), Journey to the West (1.652 billion)

It's time to reveal the director who is the No. 1 box office in domestic film history.

The current total box office of the theater chain is the director of Hong Kong, China, Tsui Hark.

, a veteran who has been in the entertainment industry for more than 40 years, topped the list with a super high box office of 14.6 billion.

Looking closely at Tsui Hark's works, one word is inseparable - imagination.

He is good at inserting all kinds of whimsical ideas into his works, and his plot imagination is extremely rich.

In the early days, the creative adaptation of "Smiling Proud Jianghu" and the subversive shaping of Lin Qingxia's version of the Undefeated East were cited as a good story.

After switching to the mainland film industry, Tsui Hark still did not let go of the drastic adaptation.

Many classic IPs and characters have also been revitalized under his improvement.

Including the Journey to the West IP work "Journey to the West" with Stephen Chow, and the Di Renjie trilogy, which focuses on fantasy colors, have achieved a good market response under Tsui Hark's fantasy adaptation, and the theater data is also quite impressive.

What is surprising is that Tsui Hark, who has always liked to adapt martial arts works, also played a brilliant role in the adaptation of the main theme works.

"Outwitting Tiger Mountain", adapted from the red model play, while retaining the essence of the work, adds some elements of the red model play that Tsui Hark understands.

In 2014, when the theater data had not yet blowout, the film also had a good box office of nearly 1 billion.

And what really made Tsui Hark sit in the first place at the box office in film history was the Changjin Lake two-part series.

This work, adapted from the novel of the well-known writer Lan Xiaolong, after gathering a large number of well-known actors such as Wu Jing and Hu Jun, invited three directors such as Tsui Hark, Chen Kaige and Lin Chaoxian to participate.

Under the all-star production team, the first work in the series "Changjin Lake" also won the first box office of 5.7 billion in film history.

Entering the second part of the series "Watergate Bridge", the two directors Chen Lin retired as producers, and it was Tsui Hark's turn to direct alone.

In "Watergate Bridge", which is interspersed with battles as the main plot, Tsui Hark also added some adaptations with personal characteristics on the basis of the original work, which also brilliantly portrayed the heroic deeds of the soldiers of the Seventh Company of Steel.

And the film's box office of over 4 billion has also drawn a colorful mark on director Tsui Hark's resume.

Similar to Zhang Yimou, who is still filming at the age of 73, Tsui Hark, who is now over his prime, has not stopped his pace.

Recently, he chose to return to the martial arts adaptation and challenge Jin Yong's most classic IP "Condor Shooting".

Living to be old and shooting to old is obviously also the creative concept of this film master.

Of course, the box office statistics of this ranking do not refer to the difference in the purchasing power of money over the years, so some new directors in the past 20 years will benefit more.

And due to the upcoming Spring Festival, the top ten seats on the list may change within this month.

For example, a change in the position at the end of the list.

Behind Wen Muye (7.702 billion), the "top ten gatekeepers" in the director's box office list, the box office data of directors Ning Hao (6.987 billion) and Jia Ling (5.413 billion) are also good.

In this Spring Festival file, Ning Hao and Jia Ling also have their own works "fighting", and it is also worth looking forward to whether the two can enter the top ten in one go.

Even the top position has the potential to change.

Zhang Yimou, who ranked fourth with a box office of 11.71 billion, also launched a new film "Article 20" in this schedule.

If Zhang Yimou's new film is "powerful" enough, he who is less than 3 billion away from Tsui Hark's box office may also complete the overtaking of the other party this year.

Obviously, in the coming month, the domestic film industry will carry out a new round of "box office involution".

Under the cooperation of these domestic directors, the domestic film market will also be in a trend of healthy competition.

Obviously, as an audience, we are going to have a good eye again.

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